Boiles-fttbnace



T. J.' ROBINSON.

BOILER FURNACE.

APPLICATION FlLED MAR. 6, 1917.

Patented Jun 10, 1919.

T. J. ROBINSON.

BOILER FURNAflE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 6. I917.

1 ,306, 623. Patented Jfine 10, 1919 2 SHEE TS--SHEET 2.

THOMAS J. ROBINSON, or'oI IcAGo, ILLINOIS.

BOILER-FURNACE.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented June 10, 1919;

Application filed March 6, 1917. Serial No. 152,663.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, THOMAS J. ROBINSON, citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Boiler-Furnaces, and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention has for its object to provide certain new and useful improvements in boiler furnaces, and more particularly in furnaces for boilers of the low pressure type used mainly for heating as distinguished from power purposes. The invention relates more particularly to means for adapting boiler furnaces of this type of boilers for burning cheap smoke-producing soft coal, and consuming the smoke so as to effect economy of fuel and prevent. obnoxious smoke emission from the chimney or stack.

The invention consists in the features of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter fully described and'claimed.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating a suitable embodiment of the invention:

Figure l is a central vertical longitudinal section through a boiler setting, furnace and boiler equipped with my invention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section of the same on the line 2-2 of Fig. la portion of the arch being broken away to disclose one of the arch supports.

. Fig. 3 is a lower plan View of one of the end members of the arch. The invention is particularly adapted to flue boilers, such as shown in Fig. -1-, in

which the water space of the boiler surrounds the furnace A. The latter is equipped with a grate B, of any suitable type, and with the fire-door C through which fuel is fed. Ordinarily this furnace is devoid of any obstruction so that the hot products of combustion are adapted to pass directly through flues This type of furnace requires the. use of smokeless coal which is comparatively expensive, and my invention relates, as aforesaid, particularly to the conversion of this furnace to adapt the same for burning poorer and cheaper grades of coal.

To this end the invention consists in providing a battle wall E within the furnace at a point nearer to theforward ends of the fines D than to the fuel door. C, and extending from the top and sides of the furnace to a point at a suitable elevation above the grate B and dividing the upper portion of the firebox into a primary combustion space between the arch and the fire door and a secondary combustion space between the arch andthe fluesjD; To provide suitable supports for said baflie wall E the side walls of the furnace, consisting of the boiler plates F, are provided with threaded'openings in which the threaded ends of the hollow nipples G are mounted; each of the latter being open at one end and closed by means of a cap 11 at the other end. These nipples G- are further secured by means of the locknuts or washers I, and thus constitute watercontaining .supports for the end members J of the arch K which support the baflie wall E. Each of the end members J consists of a block of fire-brick rovided with a vertically disposed recess Iaextending from the lower end to a point substantially midway between the ends thereof, and is of a shape in cross-section, as shown in Fig. -3, to readily receive the nipple G and its cap H uponwhich said block is supported, and by means of which it is maintained sufficiently cool to prevent its burning away under the influence of'the heat of the fire in the furnace. The portions of the recess L receiving the cap H and lock-nut I respectively, are laterally enlarged to accommodate said parts.

The said baflie wall E is provided contiguous to its upper end with a plurality of small openings M, the purpose of which will be hereinafter more fully described.

The cheaper grades of soft coal, which produce great volumes of smoke upon first being subjected to heat, must be fed to the furnace in a predetermined manner in order to effect consumption of the smoke before the latter passes into the flues D. This obviously necessitates heating said gases to a combustible point and admixing the same with air to provide the necessary oxygen for combustion thereof. This is efi ected by so feeding the fuel as to maintain a bed of in of coke in the forward end portion of the furnace to a height substantially as shown in Fig. 1, the top of the pile inclining downwardly toward the arch K. The result of this method of stoking will be to produce a large volume of smoke which will fill the space between the baffle wall E and the front wall of the furnace, and which will gradually be drawn over the incandescent bed of coke below the arch K where it will be heated to a high degree and, when admixed with suflicient air, will be entirely consumed so as to cause the flaming gas to pass through the fines I) and more efiiciently heat the boiler, besides preventing the deposit on the surfaces of said fines of thick layers of soot which tend to decrease the efficiency of the heating plant. Previous to each feeding of green coal to the furnace the incandescent coke is pushed by the stoker to occupy the aforesaid position over the rear portion of the grate; due caution being observed to remove the ashes in the ordinary manner.

In order to supply the necessary air to promote combustion of the smoke or gases constituting the smoke, I provide air flues O which preferably zigzag in the ash-pit P underneath the grate, so that the air passing therethrough will become heated to the point of ignition. As shown in Fig. 1-, the flue O extends from the forward end of the ash-pit to the rear thereof, finding a support in the bridge-wall Q, of the setting, and from this point eXtends forward tothe forward end of the grate where it communicates with a cross-pipe R terminating at its opposite ends in two vertical flues S which have discharge nozzles disposed at a higher elevation than the highest point in the bed of coal adapted to be contained in the furnace, and above the level of the arch K. By means of a lateral branch U the forward end of the flue O communicates with the outside air as shown in Fig. 2, the purpose of the said branch being to insure a sufficient supply of air in the event that the ash-pit door shall be tightly closed.

The air introduced into the furnace from the fines O and S and nozzles T admixes with the smoke in the primary combustion space without reducing the temperature of the latter, and thus promotes the heating of the same to a sufiiciently high degree when passing over the incandescent coke at the rear of the grate to insure ignition and combustion thereof.

In the event that the gas generation at the time of stoking should be so great as to produce a pressure in excess of atmospheric in the forward chamber of the furnace, or should be suflicient to neutralize the partial vacuum usually maintained by the chimney draft, it is desirable to provide means for the ready escape of the smoke sufficient to prevent discharge from the fire door and to this end I provide openings in the baffle wall through which a sufficient part of the smoke may pass from the primary combustion space to the boiler fines to prevent pocketing or choking.

I11 practice the invention has proved very efiicient and economical.

While I have shown the preferred embodiment of the invention in the accompa nying drawings, it will be understood, of course, that all variations in details of construction to adapt the same to boiler furnaces of different types are comprehended within the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a boiler, a furnace having a grate, said furnace having side walls consisting of water legs rising from the sides of the grate, hollownipples secured to the inner walls of the water legs above the grate and between its ends and communicating with the interior of the water legs, enlarged caps closing the inner ends of said nipples, a fire brick arch composed of a plurality of bricks, the end bricks having shouldered recesses interlocking with said caps and being supported on said nipples, and a baffle wall supported on said arch and rising to the crown sheet of the furnace as and for the purpose specified.

2. In a boiler, a furnace having a grate, said furnace having side walls consisting of water legs of the boiler rising from the sides of the grate, pipe nipples supported on the inner walls of said water legs above said grate and between its ends and extending into the furnace, enlarged caps clos'mg the inner ends thereof, the interior of the nipples communicating with the interior of the water legs, an arch comprising a plurality of contacting bricks spanning said furnace and supported at its ends on said nipples, the end bricks of the arch having recesses in their outer ends conforming to the outer shape of said nipples and caps, said recesses eAtendim through the lower sides of said end brie {S whereby the said end bricks can be placed upon said nipples and interlocked therewith, and a baiiie wall supported on said arch and fillingthe space between the arch and crown sheet of the furnace.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

THOMAS J. ROBINSON.

Witnesses:

M. M. BOYLE, R. W. Po'rz.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

